Windows XP - the truth?

[Mikeus Caesar]

Having reinstalled Windows XP 5 times onto my system since mid-September (just yesterday being most recent), i have to ask, is Microsoft causing all this suffering on purpose?

Are they trying to get as many people to suffer as possible, until all their suffering somehow powers some sort of mind ray, one so powerful it converts Mac users and even Linux users to Windows?

Or is the damn thing made out of the souls of small children, because small children are very good at losing things, and so is Window XP. Just today it lost hal.dll, an important system 32 file. How the hell did it do that!? How can one of the (supposedly) greatest OS's yet be losing it's own marbles!? Maybe it realised just how crummy it really is, and is trying to commit suicide.

Hell, i find it ironic that while you're setting it up, it says it's the most secure Windoze yet, because it prevents you from deleting essential files. Secure maybe, and most definately helpful, because now you don't have to move the mouse around a bit to delete them, XP does it for you!

Or maybe XP doesn't like me because of all the anti Micro$oft material on my PC.

And Internet Explorer isn't much better. Whenever it's crashing because i opened two windows in quick sucession, it's....erm....well, crashing. I would use Firefox, but alot of my favourite websites won't take anything other IE.

Oh well. No skin off my nose. If XP breaks again, i swear, i'm going to incur Uncle Bill's worst nightmare and install Linux on my PC.

[/Rant]

[Ianofsmeg16]

You want the long or short answer?

Long Answer

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yes

Short answer

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Y

[Viking]

I`ve never had to reinstall XP.

Long live microsoft and it`s wannabe monopoly.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Never had any problems with it.

For the websites that only work in IE, I use firefox with the "right-click and select 'view web page in IE'" extension. I also d/l a fix that makes a lot more of the embedded windows media player files work.

[Sardo]

I lurvs my XP - never had to re-install it or anything. That used to be quite different back when there was Win98SE. I've had a lot of grief with that. But maybe that was simply because the computers themselves were... aging.

I also use Firefox - especially with IE having a silly purple Packard Bell skin on this computer. I don't know how I ever got along before tabbed browsing.




Or maybe Bill Gates has done a very efficient job brainwashing me.

[Ice]

I use Windows XP Professional and I haven't had a problem with it yet.

[LeftEyeNine]

XP SP2 is the best Windows experience I've ever got. It really rarely goes "blue" if you keep your registry clean.

[Husar]

Yes, no problems with XP SP2. I reinstall on purpose sometimes if I feel there is too much old, non-deleted junk I don´t want to search for. But that´s just for me to feel better.

[Lemur]

You can view more with Firefox than you know, as another poster pointed out. IE is a huge freakin' security hole, and you should use it sparingly.

XP SP2 all by itself is pretty stable. The best way to bring it crashing down is to use IE a lot, or, to be honest, any Microsoft software that isn't XP SP2. Microsoft Office can bring on the blue screen of death pretty easily.

Just avoid using MS products on the MS platform, and your mileage should improve dramatically.

[Sjakihata]

I havent had the BSOD yet on my xp sp2. using firefox

[Sigurd]

As a Master of IT I chose the career of pulling my hair, gnashing my teeth and listen to endless ranting from non IT trained personnel till my ears bleed.

I have had customers calling saying: “Mysterious letters appear in the text fields in your program; hence your program is rubbish”. Spending a number of hours trying to fathom what this was all about and coming up with nothing, we had to go on location. Sitting by her computer we could not regenerate the problem. “Show us how”, we told her. The lady of some size was nearsighted and after typing a few words leaned into her screen to see what she had wrote. Her large bosom splashed all over her keyboard, making all sorts of letters appear in front of her squinting eyes 2 inches from her screen; “See, there it goes again…”

Your problem, good sir, is a case of the dangerous disease we tech-heads call finger trouble.

[Sjakihata]

As a Master of IT I chose the career of pulling my hair, gnashing my teeth and listen to endless ranting from non IT trained personnel till my ears bleed.

Nice line of work - Im glad im not in it

[Quietus]

Never had any problems with it.

For the websites that only work in IE, I use firefox with the "right-click and select 'view web page in IE'" extension. I also d/l a fix that makes a lot more of the embedded windows media player files work.

Microsoft made the 6.4 Windows Media Player default for Firefox even though you have WMP 9 or 10. I had to download a registry file to correct it as well.

@Mikeus: Try Firefox 1.5.

[lugh]

I'm like Husar, I've reinstalled it, but only when I didn't feel like manually cleaning all the junk and random programs I've installed over time.
as has been said don't use IE. It shouldn't be crashing every time you open two windows though. Maybe the pc isn't up to it? Or you have some nasties installed that are eating up your memory?

[aw89]

Never had any problems with it.

For the websites that only work in IE, I use firefox with the "right-click and select 'view web page in IE'" extension. I also d/l a fix that makes a lot more of the embedded windows media player files work.

Link please?

Edit: nevermind

[drone]

Your problem, good sir, is a case of the dangerous disease we tech-heads call finger trouble.

We call it PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard).

I have never had problems with XP, it's very stable for me. I'm not even running a SP2, just a fully patched SP1. I use Mozilla suite for web browsing, with various options tweaked for security/annoyance reasons. I also run behind a DLink router, which is probably one of the best ways to prevent the usual problems. Periodic Spybot/AdAware checks and Norton cleanup keeps it running with no problems. IE is only used to do Windows Update. If a site needs IE, they don't get my business. They should be using the standards.

[Monarch]

For the browser problem you could give Opera.com a go. It sometimes can deal with pages FF cannot.

Anywho XP I do not really try much with my windows, I dont push it it do much really, all i really use my pc for is the internet, so no terrible experiences to report. However I would say thought that XP is a must simply because think of the amount of programs and for that matter games (IE. RTW) that only work on XP, until people start to produce the high demand applications and software that work on Linux/Mac then windows will always reign supreme....even if it's technically not the 'best' OS.

[Monarch]

Accidently posted it twice, clicked 'post' too many times, apologies.

[BDC]

Never had any issues with XP SP2. Using Firefox and Open Office.

Avoid other Microsoft products like the plague. They sold my schools some dodgey planning software and some people actually managed to make a more stable, better featured equivilent just for their A-level coursework...

[Mikeus Caesar]

Gawd....my computer is currently like a sinking ship, with all processes jumping overboard. I'm constantly doing everything quick, in fear of another freeze and then half an hour of not being able to use the main boot-up and having to use my second boot-up, which is utter trash as it has no drivers or internet on it.

To the lifeboats!

[Husar]

Concerning browsers, I love my Opera, btw.

[miho]

I use firefox but I had to reinstall windows cause I probably picked up some viruses along the way and my graphics drivers were dead.

[edyzmedieval]

I never really had any big problems with XP.

I kinda want the new Widnows, or I'll keep my existing licence.
Maybe I'll go for a Mac laptop soon.

[Xiahou]

We call it PEBCAK (Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard).

Hmmm, I couldve sworn that it was the dreaded EBKAC (Error Between Keyboard and Chair). Also, look out for the ID10T error and even occasionally you can encounter problems caused by "FM" interference.

I like XP well enough. Linux is great too, but it's still not quite user friendly enough- and let's face it, all the good games still require Windows.

[Reverend Joe]

Her large bosom splashed all over her keyboard, making all sorts of letters appear in front of her squinting eyes 2 inches from her screen; ?See, there it goes again??:

Hm... you wouldn't happen to have her number-

The lady of some size

Oooooh... never mind.

Well, as a user of Windows from the very beginning, I can say that I have never had too many problems with it. Sure, one or two minor inconveniences, but not once- hang on, the jammin' part of echoes is coming up...

[MODE=Far Out][/MODE]

Okay, as I was saying, I have never once encountered the fabled "Blue Screen of Death". In fact, I think that the Apple people just made it up to scare people away from Windows.

[Lemur]

I have never once encountered the fabled "Blue Screen of Death". In fact, I think that the Apple people just made it up to scare people away from Windows.

Listen up, Zorba, my last job was all about supervising 24 people on three continents, and all they were using was Microsoft equipment. You don't believe in the blue screen of death? Get serious about Microsoft Office. Do more curising with IE. Really beat on the features, and trust me, this fabled Yeti known as BSOD will visit you. When you least expect it. Probably right before you save your one copy of that really important document.

Mac lovers have committed all sorts of sins, but don't blame the BSOD on them. That's all Microsoft.

[LeftEyeNine]

Zorba, trust me it's not a myth.. Gear up back to Win98 and see yourself after 2-3 months.

For browsers -as I stated in a topic in Watchtower- have a look at Maxthon browser.. A browser can't be better to me.

[edyzmedieval]

What do you mean by the Blue Screen of Death?!

[Tsavong]

What do you mean by the Blue Screen of Death?!

its a blue screen wich spells death to your hours of hard work using windows.

it appers whan windows has had enuff of live and most of the time i had to swich my PC off. thow i havent yet got it in xp but it heppend alot in 95.

yes i did jump strate from 95 to xp

[edyzmedieval]

Oh yeah, I think I remember it....